Cambuslang Rugby Club warmed up for the new season in style on Saturday, hitting hapless Strathaven by 119-3 at Coats Park.

The sides were meeting in an RBS West Shield preliminary match, which saw Cambus romp to an easy win over the side whom they struggled to beat in their final game of last season.

There were murmurs around the pitch on Saturday that this could have been Cambuslang’s highest-ever win in a competitive match.

And although Cambus ruthlessly destroyed their South Lanarkshire rivals, they had a degree of sympathy for the opposition.

Captain James McLaren said after the game: “When you’re playing a game like that, you do feel sorry for the opposition.

“You can see the looks on their faces when you’re going through again, again and again.

“But at the end of the day, teams haven’t shown us any mercy in the past, and you want to do your best in every game you can.”

Coach Scott Forrest agreed: “In the last game of last season, they were a good side. They made us fight all the way then, but I think they’ve lost something like seven of their boys over the summer, and their coach has gone to Dalziel. I really think Strathaven will struggle this year - it’s a real shame for them.

“We had key targets on Saturday and things we wanted to do in terms of set piece and strike moves.

“We got a chance to do a lot of them but there were times when we managed to run through them and scored tries.

“It’s a positive, but I said on Thursday night at training we want to win every game, but the priority is the league, and this game was all about getting us ready.

“A win like that can do us a lot of good, though, as it will give the boys the feel-good factor and make them want to come along to training. It also sends out a message to the other teams in the league - they will see that scoreline and think Cambuslang are a side to look out for.”

Cambuslang finished fourth in RBS West league two last season, but the club are aiming to finish at least two places higher up the table this season.

Scott explained: “This year we’re looking at being a team that can compete for promotion.

“The players set that target themselves - our focus is on winning promotion and finishing in the top two.

“It’s always easy to say you want to win promotion, but after that we’ve gone through statistics and our fixtures and broken them down. Last year, we were the second-highest point scorers in the league, but we were either fourth or fifth in terms of having the best defence. So we know that defence is an area we have to improve upon.

“Looking at the fixtures, there were a couple of games last season that we should have won, but didn’t.

“Also, if we want to score more points and work on our defence, that means we need to have the boys coming along to training every week.

“I’ve said that I’ll work with whoever is here for training, but if they want to put their money where their mouth is and win promotion, they have to come to training. The onus is very much on the players now, having set that target.”

Cambus begin their league campaign this Saturday when Garnock visit Coats Park, with a 3pm kick off.

And the local side will be looking to shed an unwanted record in recent years, which has seen them lose their opening league game.

Scott said: “Our first two games are probably two of the toughest we’ll have all season, with Garnock at home, then Stewartry away.

“Garnock are coming down a division after being relegated last season, so they’ll be looking to go straight back up, and we don’t know too much about them just now.

“Stewartry beat us home and away last season. We lost to them at home with the last kick of the ball, and they beat us by two points away, so we know they’re a good side.

“Of the other teams, I think Carrick will be up there, as they were a strong side last year.”